Delays in stadium construction. Poor working conditions for World Cup workers. Massive budget blowouts. Nationwide protests. Ignoring the needs of millions of struggling Brazilian families. All of these…

Mario Goetze’s 112th-minute goal won Germany the World Cup final, but that match wasn’t the most tweeted of the tournament.
EPA/Marcus Brandt

On Sunday, Germany held the World Cup aloft after scoring a goal in extra time. Somewhat surprisingly, the final wasn’t the most tweeted event of the 2014 tournament: that title went to Germany’s demolition…

The World Cup may be safe in German hands, but the legacy the tournament will leave in Brazil might be contested for some time.
EPA/Srdjan Suki

The losing World Cup teams and fans are licking their wounds, while newly crowned world champions Germany will celebrate for at least the next four years. However, the world has already started to ask…

After four weeks, we’re finally at the pointy end of the 2014 World Cup. Germany and Argentina meet in the final in the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro this weekend. Germany is riding high after thrashing…

We’re most at risk from cyber scams when distracted by events such as the World Cup.
Flickr/Nelson Oliveira

As rival football teams have been battling it out in this year’s World Cup, cyber criminals have had their eye on a different goal – to cash in on this global distraction at any opportunity. Among the…

Brazil’s cattle herd is the world’s second-biggest - and welfare standards are on the up.
Zeloneto/Wikimedia Commons

While Brazil’s footballers have failed spectacularly to live up to expectations, there are other areas where the country is quietly exceeding them. Perhaps surprisingly, Brazil’s rapidly improving animal…

The shock, disappointment and shame felt in Brazil after their humiliating semi-final defeat to Germany has been apparent for all to see. In fact, the despair that the defeat caused both team and their…

Football’s growth, while based on the game’s intrinsic nature, is also indebted to the World Cup.
EPA/Abedin Taherkenareh

FIFA, world football’s governing body, is not a perfect multinational corporation. It would be quite naïve to envisage that the World Cup should have the capacity to bring world peace, fix global inequality…

The extraordinary 7-1 defeat of Brazil by Germany in the World Cup semi-final is richly ironic. Many Brazilians had hoped that by hosting the World Cup in 2014, their country could finally exorcise the…

Since inception in 1960, Brasília has grown into a true metropolis of some 2.8 million people.
Xavier Donat

The media coverage of Brazil’s 2014 World Cup – in the UK at least – emphasises the familiar. The BBC has given the impression of a competition largely taking place in Rio de Janeiro. The city’s Avenida…

The food company sponsorship of the World Cup, including from soft drink giant Coca-Cola, is arguably a direct attack on efforts to improve child health in Latin America.
EPA/Guillaume Horcajuelo

On Saturday night, just hours before the latest quarter-finals of the World Cup, viewers watching SBS World News were exposed to over two and a half minutes of marketing for Coca-Cola. And that’s not even…

The 2014 World Cup and the Confederations Cup before it have acted as a catalyst for discontent being expressed by a broad sector of Brazilian society that feels indignant about the money spent on these…

Spain’s golden generation, featuring players such as Torres, Iniesta and Casillas, crashed out of the World Cup in Brazil, perhaps marking an end to their dominance of world football.
EPA/Abedin Taherkenareh

As the World Cup reaches its climax, with Brazil, Germany, Argentina and the Netherlands to fight it out for a spot in the final, can we explain why some countries have been successful at the highest level…

It was a fearsome blow. It was the first World Cup after World War II, on home soil, and the country was desperate for international recognition. Brazil reached the final, only to lose 2-1 in a shock defeat…

The Castelao stadium in Fortaleza was the first of Brazil’s World Cup stadiums to receive green certification.
Pedroichimaru/Wikimedia Commons

This year’s World Cup was supposed to be the “greenest ever”, with FIFA taking measures to account for the event’s greenhouse gas emissions, including an estimated 2.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide…

In the run up to the World Cup, the scene depicted in Brazil by the international press was split between two simple narratives. On one hand: disaster, with protests against the tournament gaining much…

The 2014 World Cup has been celebrated for the number of exciting, high-scoring matches it’s given us. It started with four goals in the opening game as Brazil defeated Croatia 3-1. Then, who could forget…

PHILOSOPHY

We all know that professional football players feign injury. Is it getting worse? Probably. Do we know why? Not really, but history suggests some plausible answers. The first thing to say is that feigning…

Germany’s Sami Khedira has the option of citing the travel exemption during Ramadan.
EPA/Srdjan Suki

RELIGION

The World Cup and Ramadan – the ninth month of the Muslim year, during which strict fasting is observed from sunrise to sunset – last clashed in 1986. This year they did so again in spectacular fashion…

Paulo Ito’s recent image joins a long line of socially-conscious street art in Brazil.
Paulo Ito

ART

Just a week before the inaugural game of the World Cup in Brazil, a vibrant wall-painting of a boy crying hysterically as he is served up a football instead of dinner, went viral. The image, shown above…

Look to Twitter to see what Brazilians really think of the World Cup.
EPA/Abedin Taherkenareh

Twitter activity this week, just like the World Cup, has definitely not slowed since the opening match. Here, we look at the shift in conversation as the tournament begins to take shape – who is excited…

From firm favourites to out after two matches – Spanish fans have felt the whole gamut of emotions this World Cup.
EPA/Alberto Martin

PSYCHOLOGY

Let’s imagine this all-too-familiar scene: a fan, perched on the edge of his or her seat, eyes wide open in anticipation, a quick inhale at a goal attempt – quickly followed by either a joyous and prideful…

Nike is only ‘unofficially’ present at the World Cup, which is officially sponsored by Adidas, through its sponsored teams such as Australia.
EPA/Armando Babani

MARKETING

The football World Cup currently underway in Brazil is not only a battle between two teams on the pitch and 32 nations overall, but also a battle off the field. Although eight different companies provide…

Russian model Irina Shayk is sure to turn heads off the pitch … but will boyfriend and Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo be able to keep his mind on the game?
EPA/Walter Bieri

OFF THE PITCH

While watching their national teams play in the World Cup, spectators may have their attention drawn away from the “beautiful game” on the pitch to the beautiful people off the pitch – the footballers…